There's a surprising huge light cluster in about North Dakota there. Is that oil fields?

It never feels quite as empty and blue as the map would suggest it is. I guess that's what I get for not going out hiking more often, though.

Darkest Africa really is rather dark.

@Fnarf--The slideshow's on Flickr here.

Legend from a zoomed-in image of North Dakota:

Gas Drilling, North Dakota

Northwestern North Dakota is one of the least-densely populated parts of the United States. Cities and people are scarce, but satellite imagery shows the area has been aglow at night in recent years. The reason: the area is home to the Bakken shale formation, a site where oil production is booming.

Companies hoping to extract oil from the Bakken formation have drilled hundreds of new wells in the last few years; natural gas often bubbles up to the surface as part of the process. Lacking the infrastructure to pipe the gas away, many drillers simply burn it in a practice known as flaring.

On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of widespread gas flaring throughout the area. Many of the specks of light are evidence of gas flaring, though others may be the lights around drilling equipment. Some of the brighter areas correspond to towns and cities including Williston, Minot, and Dickinson...

man, i miss living in rural arizona. you could see the milky way almost every night.

@5 It's something everyone should see. But I wouldn't want to live there. Way too hot.

#6, i lived in flagstaff. 7000 ft elevation. current temp is 26. hardly ever got above 85 in summer.